[mb-devel] Better queries for symbols

[Michael Margolis]

I recently started working on a little MusicBrainz app and I'm having  
a little trouble querying for bands with annoyingly symbolicated  
names :)  For example: +/- and !!!.

My first attempt is to use these queries here:

http://musicbrainz.org/ws/1/release/?type=xml&artist=+/-&title=As% 
20Seen%20on%20Television&releasetypes=Official&limit=10

http://musicbrainz.org/ws/1/release/?type=xml&artist=!!!&title=!!! 
&releasetypes=Official&limit=10

If I do a text search for artist !!! I get nothing.

http://musicbrainz.org/search/textsearch.html?query=%21%21% 
21&type=artist&limit=25&handlearguments=1

If I search for another name of theirs (chk chk chk) I get their  
page, which clearly lists them as !!!.

http://musicbrainz.org/search/textsearch.html?query=chk+chk 
+chk&type=artist&limit=25&handlearguments=1
leads to
http://musicbrainz.org/artist/f26c72d3-e52c-467b-b651-679c73d8e1a7.html

Of course, I can't go blindly replacing all exclamation points with  
"chk " my queries, so how do I go about having my app actually  
perform an XML query for bands named !!!! and +/-?

Thanks in advance :)
Michael Margolis